The Advertising Association promotes the role and rights of responsible advertising and its value to people, society, businesses and the economy. We represent UK advertisers, agencies, media owners and tech companies on behalf of the entire industry, acting as the connection between industry professionals and the politicians and policy-makers.

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The Advertising Association focuses on major industry and policy areas that have huge ramifications on UK advertising. This section contains our work around Brexit, HFSS and gambling advertising, data and e-privacy, trust, the digital charter and our Industrial Strategy campaigns.

Credos is the advertising industry’s independent think tank. It produces research, evidence and reports into the impact and effectiveness of and public and political response to advertising on behalf of UK advertisers in order to enable the industry to make informed decisions.

Front Foot is our industry’s member network of over 50 businesses across UK advertising. It aims to promote the role of responsible advertising and its value to people, society and the economy through a coalition of senior leaders from advertisers, agencies and media owners.

We run a number of events throughout the year, from our annual LEAD summit to the Media Business Course and regular breakfast briefings for our members. We are also the official UK representative for the world’s biggest festival of creativity – Cannes Lions.

Promote UK Summer 2018 update

/ August 30th 2018
Exports and International Trade UK Industrial Strategy

Promote UK is a joint endeavour from the Advertising Association and the Department for International Trade.

It’s been a busy few weeks for advertising businesses, but the business of promoting the UK’s advertising expertise never stops!

Over the past few months the Promote UK campaign has been working overtime to shape a strategy that propels advertising firms in the UK to even greater heights internationally. We’re already renowned for our incredible creative campaigns and technological experience, but over the next few years the need to communicate those advantages to new audiences is paramount.

Consequently, the Promote UK board has been meeting with industry leaders from within the country and elsewhere to determine a roadmap for that future success. Here, we’ll set out everything we’ve been up to over the past few months, and provide a hint at some future activities.

Yes we Cannes

Members of the DIT, Promote UK and Advertising Association were out in full splendor at Cannes this year, representing the UK industry and showing off the incredible work of our agencies and talent.

UK organisations took home a combined total of 110 Lions this year – as was highlighted by an exceptional advertising campaign from M&C Saatchi. That alone would have been a fantastic ad for British talent on the world stage, but on top of that the AA and DIT were busy discussing endemic issues of talent and trust at special breakfasts and events in concert with Microsoft and News UK.

For instance, the AA and Microsoft got together with friends and members including ISBA, the IAB, The Lighthouse Company, Amazon and Wavemaker to discuss everything from how you describe what you do in advertising to your granny to the importance of creative hubs and ensuring the right talent both globally and domestically are welcomed and nurtured within our industry.

Calls to Action!

The Promote UK campaign has also been busy encouraging more UK companies to step up and display their expertise at events like South by Southwest. At a time when competition has never been fiercer, it’s vital that we encourage our brightest lights to stand up and demonstrate exactly why the UK has had such success historically.

Stay tuned to the Promote UK site to keep abreast of all the upcoming opportunities to demonstrate your prowess!

West coast trade mission

We’re also being proactive in getting out there and spreading the word about the vast array of talent we have in the UK!

As part of our outreach, we’re heading to San Francisco in November, to lead and take part in panel discussions and presentations around everything from Blockchain, to changing business models and where the advertising and marketing companies we represent fit in.

We’ll have more information on those upcoming events in the next few months.

A glimpse at the future

Members of the Department for International Trade, Advertising Association and other members of the Promote UK board meet regularly to discuss the activities of ministers and policy makers, to express the desires of the advertising industry when it comes to supporting in- and out-bound international trade.

As part of those meetings, we have discussed everything from specific Promote UK events, to opportunities to promote our inward investment potential, to new endeavours and campaigns that are set to be launched to continue the good work on behalf of the industry.

For more information on those endeavours – watch this space!